Imperial man sent to prison on child porn charges

An Imperial man has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Deborah Gilg reports 56-year-old Charles Eberhardt has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison. Eberhardt also will be required to serve 10 years of supervised released after serving time in prison and will have to register as a sex offender.

Investigators say Eberhardt appears to have purchased child exploitation material through an online international money transfer service, which reported to Yahoo! that a number of its accounts were engaged in exploitation. According to federal prosecutors, evidence revealed at least one wire transfer sent by Eberhardt to the Philippines. Chat logs indicate Eberhardt had been communicating with another Nebraska resident about having sex with minors.

Eberhardt confessed to accessing child pornography on the Internet after a search warrant was issued at his residence in June of last year. An investigation discovered nearly 50 images of child pornography, including images of prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.